POP ART
AT THE END OF THE 70S, PUNK ROCK GAVE WAY TO A WHOLE NEW WAVE OF EXCITING ARTISTS AND PETE BARRETT WAS IN THE THICK OF IT WITH SLEEVE DESIGNS FOR SOME OF THE BEST. NOW BASED IN AUSTRALIA, CLASSIC POP CAUGHT UP WITH HIM FOR A LOOK BACK AT HIS POP PORTFOLIO.
ANDREW DINELEY
A friendship between Pete Barrett and members of The Clash led to him designing the sleeve for their 1978 single, (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais
Above: Dance Stance was Dexys Midnight Runners’first single, released in November 1979, while their debut long-player, Searching For The Young Soul Rebels, hit the shelves in July 1980. The cover features a 1971 photograph of a 13-year-old Northern Irish Catholic boy carrying his belongings after being forced out from his Belfast home because of civil unrest. Left: The cover of Stiff Little Fingers’1980 single At The Edge was influenced by American comic books
“I WAS ALREADY FRIENDS WITH BANANARAMA SO NEVER CONSIDERED DESIGNING ANYTHING THAT MADE THEM LOOK LIKE MAINSTREAM PIN-UPS”PETE BARRETT
Did you receive any formal design training?
I studied graphic design at Watford Art College alongside my best friend, Nick Egan, with whom I would later collaborate on record cover design work. We’d been going to see the Sex Pistols, The Clash and other punk bands throughout the summer of 1976 and then went to art school that September.
Did you always want to work in the music industry and were there any designers who particularly inspired you?
It was always my intention to become a record cover designer and in the early 1970s I liked the work of Roger Dean and Hipgnosis, but that was quickly eclipsed by the first five Roxy Music record covers. As good as Bowie was, Roxy were the standard-bearers of style in that period. Post-Roxy, Barney Bubbles was like a god who operated in a different universe from everyone else around – he created such innovative work in that pre-digital age. How did you eventually get your foot in the door of design?